Bethlehem Housing Authority Advertises For Tenants

Like the Marine Corps, the Bethlehem Housing Authority (BHA) is looking for a few good people - to live in its new Lynfield public housing project.

So intent are administrators to get good housekeepers and responsible people into the new, rent-subsidized homes, that the authority is running newspaper advertisements.

"New homes for rent . . . at prices you can afford," states a recent ad in The Morning Call's classified section. "If you are interested in low-cost rental housing, you cannot afford to ignore this ad."

Clara Kendy, manager of the project which replaces the World War II- vintage South Terrace with 200 homes including two, three and four-bedroom units, said that while there is a list of people waiting to get into the second 100 units, "We want to make sure we have 200 or more applications for 100 units."

The reason is that some applicants inevitably are culled from the running during the application process. Some may have found other homes or signed new leases since applying, Mrs. Kendy said. Others won't meet the income eligibility requirements. Others will change their minds for one reason or another.

And others might not make the grade. While the BHA might not be as strict as the Marine Corps in requiring spit-shined shoes and bed sheets stretched so tight you can bounce a dime off them, there are "housekeeping inspections" made prior to an applicant's acceptance into the public project, Kendy said.

"When they fill out the application, applicants learn they are subject to a housekeeping inspection" Kendy said, adding that the surprise inspections take place at the applicant's current residence.

While stressing that inspectors do not cancel an application because of minor incongruities - if the kids' rooms are a bit mussed, for example to Lynfield.

Inspectors try to use good judgement, but "if they have a filthy house and roaches and all of that, they are out," Mrs. Kendy said of applicants. "Nobody comes into our community unless they pass the housekeeping inspection."

Checks of the applicant's record at keeping up to date with utility bills are also made: Tenants pay their own utilities at Lynfield.

Ten months after Phase I began opening in November 1983, BHA Assistant Director Thomas Gori said he believed the new units offered incentive for residents to take better care of their homes.

So far, Mrs. Kendy said the record at Lynfield has been excellent, with people taking great care of their new homes.

People will begin moving into Phase II "we hope within the next couple of months," Mrs. Kendy said. They will be opened in three phases, with about a third of the units becoming available in each phase, possibly beginning in March.

The first 100 units, made up of two and three-bedroom homes, were built by Canjalyn Constructors Inc. of Allentown for a total cost, including utilities, design and amortization, of about $6.2 million. The secondgroup, which includes 50 four-bedroom units, 29 three-bedroom and 21 two-bedroom houses, is being built by Lanark Construction Inc. of Coopersburg for about $5.7 million.

The authority had some trouble renting the five units reserved for handicapped residents in the first phase, so officials hope the handicapped who might meet the income requirements will respond to the advertisement.

"Some (handicapped) people find them comfortable, and some don't," the manager said of the specially designed homes. The people living in the five units now find them quite suitable, she said.

For more information on the BHA's offer of low-cost housing, phone the authority at 865-8306.